Broadcaster STV has secured the first two available freeview licences in Scotland to provide local television evening broadcast content.

The Glasgow-based company, which already runs the main Channel 3 service available across most of Scotland, will begin broadcasting on the new ultra-local freeview channels – ETV in Edinburgh and GTV in Glasgow – by October.

A draft programming schedule submitted to Ofcom by STV shows a half hour “news summary” to be broadcast at 6pm – the same time STV News at Six broadcasts on Channel 3.

A further half hour of local news, broadcast under the banners Edinburgh Live and Glasgow Live, will broadcast news “updates” from 7pm and again at 8pm and 9pm.

Bobby Hain, director of channels at STV, said: “The example schedule is subject to change when we get on air, but of course, we already run a TV service for Glasgow and Edinburgh, and having a second service means that we will be competing for audience.

“However, I think that will be an entirely different audience, and there is room for everyone.

“There will be some shared content. What we said in our application to Ofcom was we already have a news gathering team within STV, and the new services from GTV and ETV will be able to commission material from those services.

“So the material that is gathered by our existing news services will be available for GTV and ETV, but in addition, they will be creating their own material, and will sometimes be using some of the archive material STV has to illustrate stories for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“These will be very different news services in look and feel and editorially from the material you see on STV, but there will be some crossover though the treatment of a story may well be different.

“So a story we only have room for a passing reference to on the main STV news, could be looked at in much more detail on the local channels.”

Hain said STV has decided against accepting BBC licence fee funding, which would have added up to around £120,000 of funding for each channel in the first year, because that agreement would have meant STV would have to share its news stories with the BBC after it had used them.

He said: “STV has chosen not to take that money in respect of the two licences we have won and as a result we will not be obliged to give the BBC our stories.”

In May 2012, Ofcom invited applications to run local TV services in 21 local areas across the UK.

STV was chosen from a shortlist of four applicants for both the Edinburgh and Glasgow channels.

Ofcom said it received a total of 57 applications to run the local TV services, along with four applications for the local multiplex to provide transmission services, which will be funded via the BBC licence fee.

Ofcom has so far made 14 licence awards for local TV services, and said further licence awards will be made in the coming months.

Ofcom said STV had submitted the most developed proposals of the four finalists for the Edinburgh and Glasgow licences and had demonstrated the greatest understanding in terms of content provision needs for the two areas.

Broadcast content via the new digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels is to include local news, sport and community-led content.

STV's bid for the licences was made in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University and Glasgow Caledonian University, and the licences will run for 12 years.

The licences are the first to be awarded by Ofcom out of 21 made available so far across the UK, which the UK Government is offering funding for via the BBC licence fee.

STV said in a statement: “STV is delighted to have been awarded the Local TV licences for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“The two services, GTV and ETV, will be delivered in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh Napier University.

“GTV and ETV will provide an innovative television service to the communities they serve complementing STV’s existing broadcast, online and mobile services.

“These new ventures will also provide media students with opportunities to work and learn in a live broadcast environment.”